This invention concerns delivery item collection receptacles such as U.S. mail deposit boxes and courier service collection as provided by the following commercial carrier services: FEDERAL EXPRESS, boxes, i.e., FEDERAL EXPRESS, DHL, UPS, AIRBORNE, etc.
A recurring problem involves the uncertainty as to whether a scheduled pickup has occurred when a deposit is attempted around the time of the pickup. If the pickup has already occurred, the delivery of the item may be seriously delayed, perhaps until the next day. If the pickup has been delayed past the posted pickup, the benefit of this added period for making deposits is lost since a deposit cannot be chanced after the posted time.
There has heretofore been proposed a solution to this problem ii in the context of mail collection boxes. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 900,756; 738,849; and 683,598 for examples of door and manually operated displays. This approach still suffers from the disadvantage that the person attempting a deposit must go to the receptacle and closely examine the pickup display to determine if the scheduled pickup has occurred. The typical modern-day situation involves driving to the location where the collection box is located, parking the car, and walking to the box to make the deposit. Obviously, it is very inconvenient and time consuming to be obliged to do this if in fact the pickup has already occurred.
Furthermore, the person attempting a deposit is typically urgently looking for a pickup location where he or she can be sure a pickup will occur as scheduled, and any delay caused by such a time-consuming investigation is a serious impediment to getting the item delivered on time.
The present-day business circumstances often involve critical importance of prompt delivery of legal documents, business proposals submitted under a deadline, etc.
There have also been numerous proposed devices for providing a remote indication to a postal patron that mail has been left in an individual mailbox. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,040,723; 5,255,843; and 4,964,565 for examples of such indicators.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an indicator for collection receptacles which solves the above-described difficulties and which also provides other benefits, particularly for those companies involved in commercial delivery services, and for persons attempting last minute deposits.